Sudden and Terrible Mischief
by Drollittle
Summary: One-shot with a famous demigod before he sparks the start of a new era.


Sudden and Terrible Mischief

Chiron stampeded through the woods, as heedless of the wind and rain as he was of any plants in his way. Lightning lit the night and thunder followed. This was no weather for a lone demigod to travel in, even without being hunted by the chimera.

If the chimera didn't kill the boy before Chiron caught up to them, Chiron would thank it for making his search easier. The trail of hoof-prints and scorch marks was easy to follow. That is, until the chimera's trail ended.

The branches of several maple and hemlock trees were completely burned. The wet grass was trampled in a large circle, as if the lion-headed goat had been chasing its snake tail in circles. Monster dust was even now shimmering away into nothingness around a simple rope trap that was connected to a stake in the ground, with the length of the rope trailing up into the treetops, where it must have been pulled to tighten around the creature's hoof. Chiron stepped into the dust, knelt on his front legs and picked a celestial bronze bullet out of the mud. Point-down, it was shot from above. Clever.

Clever or not, that runaway was still in trouble, and he couldn't be too far away now. Chiron stood and scanned the area. No signs of the escaper's path were visible in the storm. His best guess was that the boy was headed to Boston, so Chiron galloped in that direction. A pale glow in the east signaled the approach of dawn, but the clouds were thick. It would be a dark day.

Then Chiron reached the edge of the woods. A grassy field spread beyond, and in it walked a seventeen-year old with a musket over his shoulder, a flat-brimmed hat pulled low to keep rain out of his eyes, and carrying some kind of flag. Chiron didn't stop to wonder what the flag was for, but burst out of the trees shouting, "Benjamin!"  
The boy turned, "Chiron! Wonderful to meet you here!"  
Ben looked genuinely pleased to be overtaken by an angry centaur in a dangerous thunderstorm, soaked, and miles from the nearest lodging. They both had to shout to be heard over the gale.  
"You shouldn't be out in the open!"  
"No, this is the point, Sir! I'm trying to get struck by lightning!"

Chiron thought he must have heard Ben wrong. "Come, we travel back through the woods!" He took a firm hold on Ben's arm.

"I'm not going back. The apprenticeship is finished! I'm moving on to Boston, but not until I get hit by lightning!"  
"What? Last time you were unconscious for nine hours! Now come," Chiron insisted, though he let go of Ben's arm. If the demigod wanted to get electrocuted, Chiron was not going to be touching him. "you still have two years under James."  
"I won't be under anyone anymore, especially my half brother! I haven't mixed up letters for years, but he still thinks I can't write. He is nearly as aggravating as Zeus!"  
"Hush!"  
Ben threw back his head and taunted the sky, "Is this a storm? Poseidon could do better!"  
Chiron shielded his face from the rain that suddenly blew with the force of a canon.  
"Are you truly insane? You don't want to be Zeus's enemy!"  
"I am the mortal enemy of arbitrary government and unlimited power. And now I have this!" Exclaimed Ben, holding up the flag, which was actually a home-made kite, as if it answered everything.  
Chiron glared at it. "That is a kite. I don't sense any magic, or..."  
"That's right, no magic. This will enable any mortal to harness Zeus's power. See, it is tied to a key in a jar!" Ben grinned from ear to ear and stepped further out into the field.

Chiron had seen a few demigods lose their wits before. It was always sad, and they never lived long afterwards. He sighed and cantered back toward the woods, resigned that all he could do was watch. Benjamin Franklin was a lost cause.

Benjamin spread his hands wide.  
"Listen, god of tyranny!"  
The storm raged, but hardly worse than it was already. Ben secured the key in the jar and unwound the kite string, adding, "god of immaturity and temper tantrums! Who made you the king of the gods? Poseidon is grander than you, Hades is more fearsome, Hera is more loyal. Athena is wiser, Ares is fiercer. Do I need to go on? Apollo and Artemis rule your realm; what would the sky be without the sun and moon? Aphrodite and Hermes are more influential. Hephaestus and Demeter create useful things." More quietly, Benjamin said, "Though, perhaps after today we can put your lightning to use as well..."  
"Hestia is sweet, and Dionysus...well, Dionysus is a louse, but at least he pretends to have a sense of humor!" Ben's kite was in the air now, carried up on strong winds. "What are you? They probably just gave you the biggest throne so they wouldn't have to listen to you kick and scream."

Chiron felt his hair rise, the air was full of tension, but no lightning struck.  
"Oh, are you ignoring me?" Benjamin laughed. Whether intentionally or not, his feet were slowly rising from the ground. "Am I beneath your notice, Father? That's great! Leave me alone, let me go; I will just make my way to Boston and tear down the new church there because it looks too much like a Greek temple."

Benjamin was now fifteen feet in the air, holding his kite jar like a torch, and the clouds crackled. "I will exert all my influence. I will tell every demigod I meet to defy you, and who knows? Perhaps we will separate the American colonies from your empire!"

For a moment Chiron was blinded. The biggest blast of white fire he had ever seen had hit the boy in the air and Benjamin fell. Three feet from the ground, though, he caught himself. How could he be alive? How could he be conscious? Then the air was swiped from under Ben and he landed hard.

Chiron risked running out to Ben. The boy winced as he stood up, but then grinned at the jar in his hand, where electricity crackled around the key.  
"It's trapped in the glass." Ben said with satisfaction.  
"I'll hear your explanation of that later. Please say you didn't mean what you said about Lord Zeus-you just wanted lightning for your experiment."  
"Um...yes, sure I didn't mean it."  
The wind softened. A streak of morning light broke through the clouds in the distance.  
"Good. Pick up your things, I will walk with you to Boston."

A/N: "sudden and terrible mischief" is a phrase Benjamin Franklin actually used to describe lightning. He did run away from an apprenticeship with his older brother when he was 17 and went to Boston. The line "I am the mortal enemy of arbitrary government and unlimited power" is Franklin's own as well.  
I have several fun ideas about demigods in the American revolution. Maybe if I have time I will write more.


End file.
